Show J f J l J itt King K- K Kf 0 of f t the h e Khyber K Kh h tY b er R. R Rifles IT Z eS I f B By TALBOT MUNDY I J The Most Picturesque Romance of the Decade l I Copyright by The Bobb Company R t KING IS LED TO VISIT A VAST CAVE THROUGH WHICH AN F UNDERGROUND RIVER FLOWS AND IN A GREAT CAVERN MEETS THOUSANDS OF FANATICS I rii I Synopsis At At the beginning of at the world war Capt Athelstan i King of at the British Indian army and of at Its s secret cret service Is ordered to Delhi to meet a dancer and go with her to to if meet the outlaws there who are said by spies to be preparing for a ai i jihad or holy war On his way to Delhi King quietly foils a n plan to assassinate him and gets evidence that Is after him He meets Rewa man who says she has already gone gone gono north f and at her town house witnesses queer dances Ismail an becomes becomes becomes be be- comes his body servant and protector He rescues some of hillmen and takes them north with him tricking the Hangar Into going goinga a ahead The Hangar deserts him at a dangerous time He meets his brother at All fort The fhe he disguise he assumes there fools even the sharp-eyed sharp cutthroats composing his guard He enters caves thanks to his lying guides I II L CHAPTER XI Continued I 7 7 S' S Are there de devils ln In Fire J f d y and sad my veins are one 1 l lk k The man did not notice the eager- eager I less beaming out of ot Kings King's horn horn- t rimmed spectacles but Ismall Ismail did it 4 seemed teemed to him time to prove his virtues virtues vir vir- tues roes as assistant This Is the famous hakim Khan Shan he boasted He can cure anything anything anything any any- thing and for a very verY little fee I IThe A The man looked Incredulous but King drew the c covering from his row of instruments and bottles Take a chance I he advised None s I but the brave wins anything 1 I Ismail and Darya Khan were new to tot t t the business and enthusiastic They a had the man down held tight on the tt floor loor to the huge amusement of the rest before he could even protest and his howls of ot rage did him no good for forr r tY i Ismail drove the hilt of ot a knife between be be- tween his open jaws to keep them open i A very large proportion of ot Kings King's a stores tor-es consisted of morphia and co co- caine He injected enough cocaine to toc c deaden the mans man's nerves and allowed It time to work Then he drew out three back teeth in quick succession to make sure he had the right one Ismail let the victim up and Darya Khan gave him water In a brass cup cop Utterly without pain for the first time for tor days the man was as grateful as t. t wolf volf freed from a 11 trap Are there any others In pain In King asked him v Listen to him himl 1 What is Is there one ma map without a wound or ora a sore or a scar or ur a sickness Then tell them said King The man laughed When I show my Jaw there will be a fight to be first 1 Make ready ready ready-hakim hakim I II I Igo go King sat down to eat but he had not Y finished his meal meal meal-he he had made the thelast thelast thelast last littler little heap of rice into a ball with his fingers native style and was mopping mop mop- ping Ding up up the last of ot the curried gravy with it when It-when when the advance guard of the lame and the halt and the sick made its appearance The caves cave's entrance entrance entrance en en- and them trance became jammed with no DO riot ever made more noise Hakim I Ho hakim I 1 Where Is the hakim who draws teeth Where Is the theman theman man who knows Ten men burst down the passage all together all clamoring and one man wasted no time at all but began to tear tearAway tearaway his away way bloody bandages to show wound King rolled up his sleeves and began so that eagerness gave place to tot t wonder The desperate need of ot winning his first trick made him proof horror-proof and nobody waiting for the next nett turn was troubled because the man under the knife screamed a little or bled r more than usual 3 When they died died and and more than one fr y did die men die men carried them out and flung them over the precipice Into the waterfall below Ismail and Darya Khan became choosers of the victims They seized a aman aman man laid him on the-bed the tore off his disgusting bandages and held their breath until the awful resulting stench had more or less dispersed Then c. c King would probe or lance or bandage a as he saw fit using anesthetics when he must but managing mostly without S them They almost flung money at him He tossed money and clothes and every a 3 other thing they gave him Into a corner at the back of ot the cave and nobody tried lined to steal them back although a n man suspected of ot honesty In that L' L company would have been tortured to toti ti would have death as an heretic and bad had no sympathy t For hour after gruesome hour he be tolled toiled over wounds and sores such as only battles and evil living can produce produce pro pro- produce at last duce until men began to come with fresh wounds all aU caused by bullets bullets bul bul- In bandages on which 4 lets trapped rapped the blood blod lad had caked cake i but out had not gr grown wn foul t There has been fighting in the Khyber Khyber Khy- Khy ber somebody Informed him and he stopped with lancet in midair to Us listen ten scanning a hundred faces swiftly In Inthe inthe 9 the smoky lamplight There were tn tra men who held lamps for him one of oi he who them a newcomer and it was spoke Fighting in the Khyber Aye We Were s little lashkar but we drove c them back into their fort Aye l I we slew many I INot INot Not a jihad yet King Bang asked as If the world might be coming to an nn end The words were startled out of him Under TInder other circumstances he would never have asked that question so directly directly directly di di- but he had lost reckoning of everything but these poor devils' devils dreadful dreadful dread dread- ful need of ot doctoring and lie was like Uke a man roused out of a dream If It a holy war had been proclaimed already then he was engaged on a forlorn hope But the man laughed at him Nay not yet Bull beard holds back yet This was a little fight I The jihad shall come later 1 And who Is with Bull King wondered but he did not ask that question because his wits were awake again It pays not to be in too much of ot a hurry to know things in the II Hills Ills As it happened he asked no more questions for there came a shout at atthe atthe atthe the cave entrance whose purport he he did not catch and within within five minutes after that without a word of ot explanation tion the cave was left empty of at all except except except ex- ex his own five ve men They carried away the men too too sick to walk and vanished snatching the last man away almost before Kings King's fingers had finished finished fin fin- fished tying the bandage on his wound Why is that thaU he be asked Ismail Why did they go Who shouted It is night Ismail answered It was time King stared about him He He had not realized until then that without aid of the lamps he could not see his own hand held out in front of him his eyes had grown used to the th gloom like those of the surgeons In the sick-bays sick below the waterline In Nelsons Nelson's fleet But who shouted Who knows There is Is only one here who gives orders We be many who obey said Ismail Whose men were the last ones King asked him trying a new line Bull wi Bull beards beards th And whose man art thou Ismail The Afridi hesitated and when he spoke at last there was not quite the 7 S A Man Whom He Had Never Seen Before Before Before Be Be- fore Leaned on a Magazine Rifle and Eyed Him as a Tig Tiger r Eyes Its Prey same assurance In his voice as once there had been I am hers I 1 Be thou hers too I 1 But It Is night Sleep against the ton toll tomorrow tomorrows tomorrow to to- morrow morrows There be many sick In Khin- Khin Jan King made a little effort to clean the cave but the task was hopeless For Forone Forone Forone one thing he was so weary that his very bones were water He appointed two-hour two watches to relieve one ono another another another an an- other until dawn and flung himself on a clean bed He was asleep before his head had met the pillow pUlow and fo for all he knew to the contrary he dreamed of all night long It seemed to him that she came Into J the cave she cave she the woman of the faded photograph the general had given him himIn himIn himin In and and that the cave b became became be be- came filled the strange intoxicating intoxicating ing scent scent that had first wooed hl his senses in her ber reception room In Delhi He dreamed that she called Im Mm by name First King sahib I Then Khan Shan I I And her voice was surprisingly familiar But dreams are strange things He lIe sleeps l I said the same voice presently It Is good that he sleeps I And in his sleep he thought that a shadowy Ismail grunted an answer When Wilen he awoke at last It was after dawn and light shone down the passage passage passage pas pas- sage into the cave Ismail l I he shouted for he was thirsty But tl there er was no answer Darya Khan I Again there was no answer He called each of t the other men by name with the same result He decided to g go to ih the cave m mouth tt summon his men who were no doubt sleeping But there was no Ismail near the entrance entrance no no Darya Khan nor Khan nor any of ot the other men The horse was gone So was the mule So was the harness and everything everything everything every every- thing he had bad except the drugs and Instruments instruments instruments in In- and the presents the sick had given him he had noticed all those lying about in confusion when he woke Ismail I he shouted at the top of his lungs thinking they might all be outside He heard a man hawk and spit close to the entrance and went out to see A man whom he had never seen before leaned on a magazine rifle and eyed him as a tiger eyes his prey No farther I he growled bringing his rifle to the port Why not noU King asked him Allah When a camel dies in the Khyber do the kites ask why Go in I He thought then of bracelet bracelet bracelet brace brace- let that had bad always gained him at least civility from every man who saw it He held up his left wrist and knew that Instant why It felt uncomfortable The bracelet had disappeared I He turned back into the cave to hunt for it It and the strange scent greeted him again In spite of the surrounding surrounding surround surround- ing stench of ot drugs and filthy wounds there was no mistaking it If It it bad had been her ber special scent in Delhi as Saunders swore It was and her special special- scent on the note Darya Khan had carn carried carried car car- n ried down the Khyber then it was hers now and she had been in the cave He hunted high an and low and found no bracelet His pistol was gone too and his cartridges but not the dagger wrapped In a handkerchief under his shirt The money that his patients had brought him lay on the floor un un- touched It was an unusual robber who hid robbed him with Bull Bull beard beard he lie won won- dered Nobody Interfered with me until until until un un- til I doctored his men Hes He's in That's a fair guess Now who whon the fat lord Harry Harry- In n thunder thunder thunder-by by can an Bull beard be And why fighting in the Khyber so early as ns all aU this his And why does Bull beard w whoever oever he is hang back CHAPTER XII They came and changed the guard two wo hours after dawn to the of ot orders growled through the he mist and the crash of rifle-butts rifle grounding on the rock path King went to look the new newman newman to o the cave man m n over he was a no no sweeter to look at and no less treacherous ous for the fact Also that he had bolls all over the back of his neck He was not likely to be better tempered because of that fact either But It Isan is isan isan an III ill wind that blows no good to the secret service p There ere is an end to everything he remarked presently addressing the world at large or as much as he could see of at It through the cave mouth A Ahill Ahill hill lill Is so high a pool so deep a river so wide There Is an end to pain paint 1 he went on adjusting his rimmed horn-rimmed spectacles I lanced a mans man's boils last night and it hurt him but he be must I be well today Go In I growled the guard She says It is sorcery 1 She says none are ate areto areto to let thee touch them I II I can heal boils I said King retirIng retiring retiring ing Into the cave Then from a safe distance down the passage he added a word or two to sink In as the hours At Intervals throughout the went by nL day sent him food Dy oy silent messengers It Is not easy to worry and eat hear heartily tHy at one and the same time Having eaten he rolled he rolled up his sleeves and native made cotton trousers trousers trou trou- sers and proceeded to the cave e After that be he overhauled his stock of ol drugs and Instruments repacking them and making ready opportunity As I told that heathen with a gun out there theres there's an end to everything everything everything every every- thing I he reflected May ay this come soon I IThe IThe The second guard that afternoon proved even less communicative than the first up to the point when to lessen lessen ies les- les- les sen his ennui King began to whistle Each time he came near the entrance the new guard could catch a few bars barsot of ot the tune After a little while e th the nosed hook-nosed ruffian began to sing th the words to It it In a voice like a for forgotten otten 1 L dogs So King stopped at the entrance and saw then a soaked blood-soaked bandage on n the right of ot his neck not very far from rom the jugular Hah I 1 said King Was that wound got ot in the Khyber the other day Nay Here In A man told me last night said King drawing on Imagination without any ny compunction at all that the fight In n the Khyber was because a jihad Is laun launched hed already That man lied I said the guard shifting hlf ting position uneasily as 1 If afraid to o talk too much So I told him himl l answered King I I told old him there never will be another jihad Then thou art a a. a greater liar than he le the guard answered hotly There will be a Jihad when she is ready such an n one as never yet was 1 India shall bleed leed f for r all the fat years she has lain Not a throat of an unbeliever un- un believer ellever in the world shall be left unlit un un- slit sUt lit No Jihad Thou liar I Get In out ut of ot my sight l So King retired into the cave with something new to think about Was she he planning the jihad I 1 Or pretending to o plan one Every once In a while the he guard leaned far Into the cave mouth and hurled adjectives at him the he mildest of ot which was a well of In- In formation If his temper was the temper temper temper tem tem- per of ot the Hills it was easy to read disappointment for a jihad that should have been already but had been post post- King let hint alone and paced the he cave for hours He lIe was squatting on his end bed-end In n the dark like Uke a spectacled Ima Image e of Buddha when the first of ot the three men came on guard again and at last Ismail small came for him holding a pitchy torch that filled the dim passage full ot of f acrid smoke and made both of them cough Ismail was red-eyed red with It Come I he growled Come little hakim I 1 Then he turned on his heel at once as 1 If afraid of being twitted with desertion He seemed to want to get outside where he could keep out of range ange of words yet not to wish to seem eem unfriendly But King made no effort to speak to him lim following In silence out on to the dark ledge above the waterfall and noticing noticing no- no Icing that the guard with the boils was back again on duty He grinned evilly out of ot a shadow as King passed Make an end I l he advised Jump hakim before a worse thing happens 1 I ITo To illustrate the suggestion he kicked |